Ibrahim Bakare
Head of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit in Abuja and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Akin Victor Fakorede has been advised to continue to remain focused in the fight against insecurity and heinous crimes in the country.
The advice was given by a group known as Friends of Akin Fakorede (FAF), which observed that the gallant cop was always haunted and threatened by criminals, both within and outside the Police circle because of his rising and intimidating profile. And that these have attracted jealousy and envy from colleagues and top criminals because of his uncompromising nature in the performance of his official duties. “He so much put politicians on their toes and refused their overtures thereby maintaining the integrity of his professional callings as he refused their filthy lucre.”
The group was reacting to reports against ACP Akin Fakorede by some online newspapers last December 11, 2024, describing the reports as false , sponsored and unprofessional, aimed at tarnishing and denigrating the character and reputation of a hardworking Police officer.
FAF, in a statement circulated in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital over the weekend stated that they never wanted to dignify the false reports with a response because they perceive it as a collaboration between inside and outside sources to tarnish his hard earned reputation. But that it was necessary to point out some flaws in the reports and the fact that such publications end up exposing his detractors, and by implications the real sponsors of insecurity and criminality in our society.
The statement, captioned “false and defamatory publications against ACP Akin Fakorede”, dated December 19, 2024 and signed by Dr Okorieem Mente and Chief Idunga Omiete, chairman and Secretary of FAF respectively stated that these detractors “will stop at nothing to either sack him or put him out of circulation for performing his official duties,” it stated.
It stated that these detractors are gradually being unmasked as wherever he goes they gang up against him. The statement cited an instance of a former state governor who had openly vowed to make the states of his political enemies ungovernable and stated that, “with time our friend will be finally vindicated when they’re fully unmasked.”
The statement further stressed that in Anambra state his uncompromising nature made the state a no go area for criminals. On his arrival at Awka, he was assigned to take charge of the command’s Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) where he came into contact with one Ozo Jeff Nweke, a notorious Land grabber in Awka and founder of a private security outfit known as Blue Shield Security Company.
FAF recalled that the then state Commissioner of Police, CP Aderemi Adeoye on 23rd November 2023 issued a press statement where he stated that ACP Fakorede bursted and exposed the nebulous activities of Ozo Nweke, who was alleged to be sponsoring cult groups against one another to cause insecurity in the state.
“ACP Akin Victor Fakorede and his officers refused the several financial inducements of Nweke and did his job by exposing the suspect, irrespective of his social status in Awka. Today, Ozo Jeff Nweke and operatives of his company have been charged to court in three different cases, one at the Federal High Court and two at the State High Court.”
According to the statement, the report is unprofessional because it’s not balanced. The publishers of the reports, in a view to pleasing its paymasters forgot to adhere to the basic Journalism ethics of giving the right of reply to an accused person and the confirmation of all crimes from the appropriate authorities.
“Neither did they play around it, as often done professionally by saying that ‘when contacted, or all efforts to contact him or her proved abortive as at press time’. They neither contacted ACP Akin Fakorede for his comments nor the police authorities for confirmation of the series of allegations they chronicled against him in their reports.
“They also forgot that none of those allegations against him are before any competent Court of law anywhere in the country. Our statue books says a person is innocent until found guilty by a law court. The reports only chronicled indictments and recommendations by panels and commissions, which are not competent courts of law. He was equally exonerated in most of those allegations by the investigating panels and commissions.” the statement went on.
The statement, which also pointed out others flaws in the reports, cited inaccuracies in dates, particularly the 2015 general elections and concluded by advising him to remain focused in the performance of his job, adding that they were the least unsurprised at the tantrums being thrown at their friend because, according to them, “only a tree with succulent fruits attracts stones from little children.”
It would be recalled that after the disbandment of the defunct SARS, Fakorede was transferred from Rivers state to various commands, serving in Brini-Gwari Area Command in Kaduna State from 2019 to 2021, Zone 13 in Anambra State from 2021 to 2023, and most recently at the Anambra State Criminal Investigations Department in 2024 before his recent posting to head the IGP Monitoring Unit in Abuja.
Debunking the allegation of human rights abuses against ACP Fakorede, FAF in the statement exonerated him because of the high class international police trainings he had undergone in the course of his security career; some of which, they mentioned to included National Security and Diplomacy Management Course at Galileo Institute, Tel Aviv, Israel; Humanitarian And Peace Support School, Nairobi, Kenya; United Nations Senior Management Course, Mogadishu, Somalia; Jesus College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom where he obtained a Certificate In Forensic and Financial Crimes Investigations as well as Advance Detective Courses.
His exposure to international police operations across the globe ensured his meticulous adherence to international standards on human rights in the course of his duties. He had served in Africa on several Police Peace Maintenance and Operations missions and also as Police Advisor to the Somalian Inspector General of Police in Mogadishu.
“He was at the United Nations from 2007 to 2009 in Darfur, Southern Sudan; in East Africa with the African Union from 2013 to 2015, in two different Missions. At Interpol (International Police Organization foreign service), Akin earned medals for his gallantry and display of good professional conduct amidst several challenges.
This University of Calabar Law alumni confirmed his international exposure when he reportedly said, “The Nigeria Police Force has given me a lot of opportunities. I have served with the United Nations (UN) under the UN African Mission in Darfur, a region in Western Sudan where a major armed conflict began in February 2003. I was part of the pioneer UN team in Darfur on December 30, 2007. I have also served with the African Union (AU) in Somalia. I have been privileged to go on overseas trainings.”
Urging members of the public to discontenanced the sponsored campaign of calumny against this rising super cop, FAF observed that ACP Fakorede has bursted several crimes and criminal gangs that lowered crime rates wherever he’d served in his nearly three decades of his fight against insecurity and criminality.
He’s an anathema to social miscreants and deviants because of his success rate at stopping them from armed Robbery, kidnappings and other criminal activities that make living in society sometimes difficult for law abiding citizens.
FAF concluded its press release with a warning to the detractors of Fakorede to desist from their campaign of calumny against this rising super cop who is giving some form of credibility to our security agencies before the international community.
